Vertical grain silos are typically manufactured from reinforced concrete or sheet metal. These materials make the grain silo very heavy, difficult to construct, and impossible to move. Furthermore, the lifetime of the silo is limited by the corrosion of the sheetmetal, which usually does not last longer than 30 years.
While some prior art options exist for flexible-walled grain silos, these are typically not vertical storage. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,656 to Luders uses a tarp to cover grain that is stored in a hole in the ground. Since ground pressure is used to contain the grain, it takes up more horizontal area than vertical storage. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,336 to Ross uses the ground to contain grain at a shallow depth. This, too, uses a lot of land area.
A need exists for a cheap and lightweight vertical grain silo that is easy to erect and does not use a lot of land.